204 Ruger

jed

jed

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I Was Wondering Who Has Experience With The 204 Ruger? I Was Thinking Of A New Rifle As I Would Someday Like To Get Into Varmit Hunting. I Was Thinking 100 To 400 Meters Mostly Ground Squirrels, Maybe The Odd Coyote. Does Anybody Have Anything Good Or Bad To Say About This Round?

My Other Choices Would Be The 222 Or 223. I Already Have A Mini 14 But The Accuracy Isn't There For The Long Range Stuff. I Also Have A 243 For The Serious Coyote Hunts. And I Handload So Ammo Selection / Availability Isn't A Concern. Let Me Know What You Think. Thanks
 
Have one, like it, not much else to say. Trajectory is similar to the 220 swift or 22-250 (actually, it's marginally better). Recoil is a LOT less - you can spot your own hits, even at high magnification and close range. You just can't do that with a bigger gun. Accuracy-wise, it has potential, but is a picky eater.
 
I have read that it is similar to the 223 for barrel life. It has a smaller powder charge than the 22-250 and lighter pressure so I am not worried about "burning" barrels. I was under the impression that the concern was actually throat erosion. Maybe somebody can clear this up for us.
 
jed said:
I have read that it is similar to the 223 for barrel life. It has a smaller powder charge than the 22-250 and lighter pressure so I am not worried about "burning" barrels. I was under the impression that the concern was actually throat erosion. Maybe somebody can clear this up for us.
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I heard rumors that throat erosion is a problem with the new short/ultra magnums also. I love to hear some feedback on this too.
 
jed said:
I have read that it is similar to the 223 for barrel life. It has a smaller powder charge than the 22-250 and lighter pressure so I am not worried about "burning" barrels. I was under the impression that the concern was actually throat erosion. Maybe somebody can clear this up for us.
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Exactly. Lower pressure, less propellant - all good.
 
Mines a 26" hvy bbl for my Encore.I like this round alot especially being able to watch the 'gophers' vapourize when being struck by a 32gr V-max at over 4100fps.I have to agree with Prospers comment by saying that it is a picky eater! I've tried IMR 3031,IMR 4198 and now H335,the last one I'm still trying out and so far the results & velocity have been better.
 
204 is a faboulous round, I have tried 32 and 40 hornady's, 39 seirra's and the 35 bergers. I will be trying the 40 noslers next week. I have not found it to picky of an eater but to date all I have used was bl(c)-2 and H4895. I have been able to get solidly sub MOA loads (some best groups under .5 moa)with all of those heads (from a lowly handi-rifle no less)

For your context when you get it start with the 39 seirra's and h4895, to really get the most out of the 204 tragectoy wise you need to use the bigger heads. And when you go for coyotes use the 35 bergers it's a very good fur bullet, unless you a leave them lay sort then the 39 will kill the good and dead, it just not a good fur keeping head.

There is a 45 grain soft point coming from Hornady that could be a very good fur head too, as far as I understand it's the 32 grain with the plastic tip swapped out with lead to give the heavier weight.

I don't shoot the smaller heads much but realoader 10 is supposed to give good results.
 
'Rifle' magazine and 'Rifle Shooter' magazine both did a write-up this month on the 204. They were able to get 1/4 moa groups with a number of different powders, bullets and rifles (Ruger, Kimber, Remington). Powders of choice include 335, 748 and 4895
 
It was the Rifle magazine article that prompted this thread. However other than aulrich's comments I still don't know how this round works on Coyotes. Is there any real advantage over the 223? I am a left handed shooter so I will be looking to rebarrel a Rem 700 already in 223, or Savage makes a LH 204 so many guns so little time...
 
either/or. If you're shooting coyotes, go with the Hornady SP, not a Vmax.

The 204 offers the trajectory of a 22-250, and recoil, muzzle blast and noise level of a .223 (or maybe slightly less). Under field conditions, I doubt you'll notice a difference.

I went with 204 just because it (was, at the time) different. Everyone has a 223 these days it seems, so I went with something a little more unique.
 
K98 said:
I heard rumors that throat erosion is a problem with the new short/ultra magnums also. I love to hear some feedback on this too.
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The same stories were floating around 30 years ago when I bought my 264 Win mag. "Watch out, you'll burn your barrel out". And thirty years later, I'm still dropping elk with it, out to 400 yards or more. On the range every fall, I still get 1" groups at 200 yards. So what's the problem?

The problem is, if you blast through 50 rounds in ten minutes, every weekend, you will burn something out. Just use common sense and clean the barrel and chamber ocassionaly.

As to the 204 Ruger - nice new toy, drops Alberta coyotes just fine.
 
prosper said:
either/or. If you're shooting coyotes, go with the Hornady SP, not a Vmax.

The 204 offers the trajectory of a 22-250, and recoil, muzzle blast and noise level of a .223 (or maybe slightly less). Under field conditions, I doubt you'll notice a difference.

I went with 204 just because it (was, at the time) different. Everyone has a 223 these days it seems, so I went with something a little more unique.
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X2.......as well when my brother Gilly went to the Wholesale in S'Toon I lost rock paper scissors for the the .223 barrel so I got stuck with the .204,No regrets.
 
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Ironically the advantage of the 204 over the 223 for coyotes is that it comes to the party with a little less muzzle energy than the 223. When combined with the right bullet that helps to control pelt damage at typical calling ranges (10-150 yards).

To balance that out with the better bc of the 20 cal heads as the range extends the energy difference decreases. But even still the berger heads (which have a poor bc for 20 cals) hit a self imposed wall of 400 ftlbs at about 300 yards. To contrast the 39 sierra's don't hit that wall till a little over 400. But from what I have seen it do to jackrabbits and picture posted showing pelt damage it's not a good head for saving fur.

Most of the time when I have heard of "runners" have been with the 32 grain sierra or the 32 hornady though the horandy head is tougher and as long as you hit the lung cleanly (no bone or long angles) it wil kill them. As for thw sierra the Seirra tech have said that the 32 is not intended for large varmints, it's way too soft.

In general with varmint cartridges from 17 rem on up poor shot placement and/or poor bullet selection are the biggest causes of runners. As an example a buddy shot a coyote with a 50 gr v-max out of a 223 initially it looked DRT (dead right there). Since it was feet up and not moving we continuied to call after about 2 or 3 sequences the dog goes and stands up. As I am trying to get the cross hairs on it I can see blood 1/3rd up the body right above the front leg, pretty much sweet spot but I bet he hit a bone and that fragile bullet did a surface splash. We never did recover that one.
 
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